In the early hours of 2 July 1940, almost two months after
the 9 May incident, LA Burt flew
on a mission with Pilot Sub Lt. John
Bartram Kiddell
of 825 squadron. What their mission was
is not clear. Several Swordfish
squadrons attacked barges in the Maas
river, east of Rotterdam. LA Burt's
Swordfish attacked Schiphol Airfield.
The German war diary of Fliegerhorst
Schiphol mentions: "Shortly before
three o'clock an enemy aircraft headed
for the dummy airfield, flew several
times over a nearby search light and
dropped three bombs. The aircraft was
shot down by a machine gun located on
the dummy airfield. One occupant is
dead, the second made POW and brought to
the Luftgau Kommando Holland. On our
side there were no victims or damage."
Leading
Airman Burt was killed. The pilot,
Sub Lt Kiddell, was taken POW. While in
captivity he was promoted to Lt. (A) but
he died on 1 July 1943, while he tried
to escape from Stalag Luft III, three years to
the day when he was shot down. He is
buried at the Poznan Old Garrison
Cemetery, Poland.
Leading
Airman Burt is buried at the Nieuwe
Oosterbegraafplaats in Amsterdam Plot
69, Row A, Grave 14.
*
Midshipsman Shaddick later transferred to
812 Squadron RN. There again he
ditched in a plane, flown by Sub Lt.
Eborn,
on 10 June 1940 on a mission to bomb the
German Battleship Admiraal Scheer. Sub Lt.
Eborn
was killed on 4 August 1940 on a mission to
bomb oil facilities at Vlaardingen. He was
forced to ditch his Swordfish near Noordwijk
where his body later washed ashore and where
he is buried today. G.T. Shaddick, after
having ditched and survived at least two
times, was killed on 28 January 1942 while
flying from H.M.S. Indomitable, possibly in
the Indian Ocean.
